The preparation of one crust pies often requires pre-baking of the bottom pie crust, prior to the addition of the pie fillings. The purpose of this is to avoid a soggy crust condition which can result when certain types of pie fillings are added to a pie crust prior to cooking. In other instances, the pie fillings are cooked before placing in the pie crust requiring the crust to be pre-baked.
It is not a simple matter to produce a uniform pie crust simply by rolling out the pie dough, followed by pressing against the bottom and walls of a standard pie tin. During the process of baking the pie, moisture is released from the pie crust dough, causing the pie crust to bubble or blister outwardly from the walls of the pie tin. This is a problem regardless of the type of pie tin used. For example, a pie tin made of ceramic, glass or metal, does not alleviate the problem.
In an effort to overcome blistering and warping of a single pie crust, cooks have resorted to filling the uncooked pie crust dough with an inert material, such as uncooked rice or beans to weigh the pie crust down. However, it has been found that if sufficient rice or beans are used, the moisture exuding from the pie dough during the baking process is not readily released, resulting in soggy areas in the pie crust. At the same time, the uncooked rice or beans which are used are destroyed in the process, causing considerable expense and waste.
The use of a pie tin of the same size used for the crust which is nested inside of the pie crust has also been tired. This has proved unsatisfactory also for the same reason that the rice has been unsatisfactory. That is, moisture is unable to escape.
In an effort to overcome the above moisture problems, nesting devices were tried having a generally pie-shaped configuration which were perforated with many holes, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,596,331. Another device utilizing a slightly different configuration with a solid side wall is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,411,128. These devices worked better than using a solid pie tin, since they permit better escape of steam from the pie crust. However, they did not fully avoid buckling and gave rise to a new problem consisting of sticking of the pie shaper to the pie crust after cooking. Subsequent removal of the device, then, caused breaking of the pie crust.
Other pie shapers consisting of mesh wires were next attempted, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,453,948 and 2,595,684. These devices also permitted the escape of steam, but suffer from the problems of sticking of the baked pie crust to the mesh wires, causing breaking of the crust upon removal. Additionally, these devices presented new problems in that they are hard to clean. Thus, the above devices are only partially successful in correcting the problems encountered in baking a single pie crust shell.
A further disadvantage of these devices is that they are only suitable for use in a specific sized pie tin. That is, they are not adaptable to different side wall heights, as well as different angled side walls, which variations are not uncommon in currently available pie tins.